Michelle Rhee keeps raising interesting questions. It is hard to ignore her, because she is the face of the corporate reform movement, the one who goes on television to complain about the huge numbers of “bad” teachers and the importance of weakening or eliminating collective bargaining and the great value of privatizing public schools. Apparently, despite her four years in D.C., plus the additional years of her deputy Kaya Henderson, the District of Columbia still has way too many “bad” teachers because it continues to be at the bottom of NAEP rankings. When will we see D.C. rise to the top as Rhee predicted?
Is she a public school parent? Yes, one daughter attends a public magnet school, and the other attends an elite private school. Both in Tennessee.
Where does she live? In interviews in Tennessee, she says she lives in Tennessee, but she is also the wife of the mayor of Sacramento and lives in California. Does she vote in Tennessee or California?
Is she a Republican or a Democrat? She says she is a Democrat, but most of the candidates supported by StudentsFirst were Republicans. Of 105 candidates her group funded, 90 were Republicans. Sort of strange for a Democrat. She poured almost a million dollars into Tennessee to guarantee that the Republicans gained a super-majority. In one Democratic primary, she gave $100,000 to a voucher-loving conservative Democrat to beat a liberal pro-public school Democrat.
And the few Democrats she supported were in favor of vouchers and other Republican ideas. She has also given millions to defeat collective bargaining, which Democrats tend to support. Or used to.
She is a woman of mystery.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Diane, are you picking on our beloved Michelle Rhee?
Our savior of education, our Lady of Privatization First and Children/Truth Last?
I wish we could just leave her alone and let her stew in her own brand of rotten brine she’s created. The brine is not particularly alkaline, and she may emerge with some burns. She’s starting to make her own people think twice about whether or not she’s the right person to enhance and airbrish their image.
But it would be far more interesting and perhaps productive to probe as much as we can to see what else may lies beneather Ms. Rhee’s smiley-face Medusa countenance, and peer inside her political luggage.
Ah, Ms. Rhee, I love you. Forgive my presumption, but if we were both single, I’d woo you and court you myself.
The only problem is that after the kids are born, you might end up living in another state, and relinquish their custody to me . . . .
What kind of credible marriage is that?
There is one thing that is not a mystery.
She is a F R A U D !
Her inability to master the art of teaching has led to a sociopathic desire to take us all down. She is a pariah and there will be an end to her reign of terror.
One of my favorite Rhee references is in a video w Duncan. Duncan says he loves supporting Rhee. Later Rhee says when she goes to schools kids now know her — and they run over to her. She said now they don’t think of her as that crazy (don’t remember exact derogatory term she used) Chinese woman.
Rhee is not Chinese. She is Korean.
Yep, a plant from the North Korean Spy Agency sent to America to destroy the public education system so that NK may one day rightly take its place as the top dog nation of the world.
You are too kind. Rhee is not “a woman of mystery.” She is a self-serving, duplicitous opportunist who started her “career” in an organization that churns out impostors, playing teacher, and she has milked her role as charlatan to the point that she will say anything to support whatever agenda that keeps the big bucks rolling in, regardless of how contradictory or silly she looks. It’s the M.O of white collar crooks and liars. Nothing enigmatic about that.
The only mystery is how long her corporate sponsors and political enablers will continue to support and protect her. Hiring a high profile defense attorney who specializes in white collar crimes demonstrates that she knows it’s just a matter of time before the fall of her house of cards.
Michelle Rhee is a political asset cultivated by big money as the face and mouth of corporate reform. We also need to cultivate progressive political assets, as Diane does in highlighting teachers, bloggers, journalists, schl bd members, principals, etc., who fight back gainst the testing, who fight for public goods like high-quality, well-funded, small-classes, arts-filled public educ for all kids, not only those with last names like Obama, Emanuel, Pritzker, Cuomo, Gates, etc. In the case of Rhee, a weak teacher and weak school supt. has been turned into a national star thanks to her billionaire backers and her friends in high places(Obama, Duncan, Broad), whose endorsement and protection enable her to rise above her dismal record; every war needs charismatic leaders to consolidate around, and in this case, the corporate forces found a minority face of a woman, a good choice to disguise the billionaire boys club behind it all, which is all-white and all-male, to create misdirection and mystification–symbols substituting for and disguising substance.
I found the tweet. Anyone who tweets can get tweets archived & search your archives. Can’t figure out the minute from this video — but it’s about 1/2 inch into the video:
Rhee: Kids know me now, it’s not just “Who’s that crazy Chinese woman running around?” http://t.co/VMt8kLZ4 Rhee, Korean labels Chinese. BAD
I prefer to characterize her as a woman of mis-information!
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Is Ms. Rhee not American? I don’t like labels, but crazy lady does seem to fit.
Not my label. Wiki’s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Rhee
And I’m not the one who referenced any person as a crazy chinese person. Those words belong to Rhee.
Clarify, please: Diane Ravitch says that Michelle Rhee is married to the mayor of Sacramento. Another blogger (chalkface) says that Michelle Rhee’s husband is the Tennessee Commissioner of Education. a, b, c, or d?
Johnson, Kevin…the present hubby…Huffman, Kevin, the ex.
She is partial to the name Kevin evidently.
The latter is Rhee’s ex-husband. Current hubby is mayor of Sacramento. Rhee’s children live with their father in Tennessee, not with her.
It’s pretty gross all around that so much is personal here, as regards Rhee. You know your argument is weak when the focus is such. Is she education’s savior? No. But some of what she says has merit.
Great teachers matter. And bad teachers exist, and will be standing before students on Tuesday morning. And that’s not a good thing.
I agree that this particular post is to personal but when one obfuscates oneself to perhaps avoid more pertinent questioning it sends up warning flags.
Please expound on “some of what she says has merit”. Some examples please other than the cliche that “great teachers matter” (which is certainly not a Rhee original).
Great parents matter.
Great students matter.
Great communities matter.
Great federal education commissioners matter.
Great presidents matter.
Great countries matter.
And Rhee is still an opportunistic, lying, pathetic fraud.
There is no obfuscation in my comment. I was not looking to enter into a debate; I simply made a comment.
I believe that teachers who are substantively better at their job should earn more money than those who are not. As does Rhee.
I believe that unions often put the needs of adults before the needs of students. As does Rhee.
I believe that sometimes, you just need to close a school and consolidate. As does Rhee. (Closing schools is a very touchy one – and I would not be as radical as Rhee has been in her closures, from what I know of her choices.)
I also believe that a debate that opens by accusing a commenter of “obfuscating” is again, overly aggressive. And when people are overly aggressive, that weakens their argument.
There are many openings at Students First. I suggest you check it out. Rhee needs more water boys. You are perfect for the job. Unions protect teachers from arbitrary dismissal. We have earned due process rights. It is very easy to get rid of teachers. It happens all the time. Don’t believe the lies spewed by the pathological Rheeject.
avftf,
I was referring to Rhee not your comment when I wrote of obfuscating. Sorry that I didn’t make that clear.
What you have written, though of what you believe to be in regards to teachers is certainly your own opinions but not necessarily truths to be acted upon.
Duane
Finally, the “lying, pathetic fraud” comment is not worthy of any reasonable response beyond perhaps a note to “look in the mirror”, if that is all you have to add.
I can. I do. I don’t lie and abuse people for my own gain. You have been Rheeprogrammed. God bless you. Happy Easter. Happy Passover.
Michelle Rhee, Cuckoo in the democratic nest. But then again, isn’t Obama with his ALEC approved RTTT? avoteforthefuture is a vote for the past, the segregated, robber baron, discriminatory, class-riven past.
Wow. “Segregated”? “Robber baron”? “Abuse people for my own gain”? “Pathological Rheeject”?
This is not debate. This is low end school yard bullying. Contempt is all I have for this.
Bonne chance – c’est vraiment dégueulasse.
No hablo frances.